Another Chance
by Lucillia
Summary: Captain Kirk gets a chance to meet the father he never knew when a George Kirk from an alternate timeline is aboard a vessel that comes out of a certain anomaly.
1. Surprise meetings

**Author's Note: **I was reading the Epilogue of Diane Carey's Final Frontier where it says that while James Kirk was at the Academy the ship his father was on mysteriously disappeared, and this came to me. According to a comic series called Star Trek: Early Voyages there actually was a USS Tiberius that Robert April (who won't be in this story but will be mentioned) was captain of before he became captain of the Enterprise.

* * *

When the phenomenon that resembled a lightning storm in space was reported once again, and the Enterprise made all haste to reach it, the crew were prepared for almost anything. The captain however was not and could not be prepared for what happened however. The ship that came out of the anomaly wasn't a heavily damaged Narada, or a similar ship seeking revenge as the crew and the Federation had half expected when they had sent the Enterprise, but was something else entirely.

The ship that came out of the anomaly was an older model Federation starship whose markings identified it as the USS Tiberius-A. There was no such ship in the Starfleet registry however. Before the Enterprise could hail the other vessel to see what the hell was going on and why the hell a ship that by all rights didn't exist had appeared before them, the Tiberius took the initiative.

"Chris? It's Eddy. We seem to have gotten caught in weird anomaly that knocked our warp core out of alignment and need a tow to the nearest Starbase. If you start in on the Blackbeard jokes again, I'm gonna strangle you. By the way, when did you have the time to get a complete overhaul?" Greeted the captain of the Tiberius, a man who many of you would have already guessed by the Blackbeard comment was named Edward Teach.

After the cryptic and less than formal greeting, the bridge crew of the Enterprise looked at each-other in confusion, all except for Spock who simply raised one eyebrow in silence. This had not been how they'd expected the encounter to go, though they had few if any expectations in that regard.

"Uh, you're not Chris." The captain of the Tiberius eloquently stated once he got a good look at who he was talking to.

"I am James T. Kirk Captain of the Starship Enterprise." Captain Kirk replied coolly.

At this statement, a vaguely familiar looking man in his mid-fifties with graying red hair and brown eyes looked over and laughed.

"Getting delusions of grandeur there Jimmy? I'd say that it was rather nice of Pike to let you stay aboard the Enterprise over the Summer - I wonder how Robert managed to wrangle that one - considering how you're so obsessed with it, but taking his seat is a bit much. Now shove off and get Chris Pike on the line son." the man said while looking like he was going to break a couple of ribs from holding in his laughter.

This was met with snickers from most of the bridge crew of the Enterprise who'd served under Pike for all of an hour. The captain however, was not nearly as amused.

"If you wish to speak with Admiral Pike, I suggest you call Earth." Captain Kirk said icily.

"Admiral? Crap. It looks like we traveled through time. Congratulations George, it looks like your son is the youngest captain in the fleet. He can't be older than thirty." The Captain of the Tiberius stated. "Sorry for giving you a hard time kid. A tow to the nearest starbase would be greatly appreciated."

It was at this point that Spock handed his scans of the other vessel to his captain who quickly reviewed them.

"Who are you? You better start talking real quick, because our scans indicate you have a Romulan aboard and I won't hesitate to shoot through the rest of you to get him." Captain Kirk said coldly, knowing that Romulan + Lightning storm in space = Trouble that he didn't want to deal with again after it had killed his father, destroyed Vulcan and nearly destroyed Earth the last time. "Having someone make a poor attempt at impersonating my father didn't add any points in your favor either."

"There's a Romulan aboard?!" the captain of the Tiberius exclaimed, seemingly shocked by this revelation.

"Oh, you're talking about Cale. He defected to the Federation when me and Robert took the Enterprise out to rescue the S.S. Rosenburg and ended up taking an unplanned detour to the other side of the Neutral Zone." The man who was "impersonating" Captain Kirk's father said casually, completely aware of the bombshell he'd just dropped.

"The Father of Federation Justice is a Romulan?!" the captain of the Tiberius said, looking as if his brain was going to explode. Considering the reputation Romulans had in just about every universe, it probably would.

Meanwhile aboard the Enterprise, Spock's left eyebrow skyrocketed towards his hairline.

"Captain, I do believe we are dealing with beings from an earlier point in the timeline from which my older counterpart came." Spock said. "The man who may be your father's counterpart mentioned that the Enterprise took part in a rescue of the SS Rosenburg. While that could be considered impossible as the Rosenburg disaster took place in 2243 and construction on the Enterprise was started much later and only completed earlier this year, my counterpart had indicated that the Enterprise of his timeline was completed much earlier and built along a design from one of the earliest drafts of the plans for the Constitution Class vessel. He further indicated that your father's counterpart had served as Tactical Officer under the ship's first captain, one Robert April."

"Well, that sounds all well and good, but I don't believe it." Kirk said.

"The facts fit the situation at hand." Spock said. "The theory is logical."

"Spock also told me that my father lived to see me become captain, and this man seems to think that I'm a kid." Captain Kirk said vehemently denying the possibility "That, and my father didn't have red hair."

The red haired man squirmed at this and muttered "I quit bleaching it at Starbase 2 when Reed put pink in the bottle."

At this, Spock's eyebrow rose. This would be an excellent test for his theory. The Enterprise had recently been to Starbase 5. They had arrested former Starfleet officer turned smuggler named Drake Reed who had once served at Starbase 2 there.

"Captain, I have an idea as to how to determine the accuracy of my theory." Spock said.

"By all means, I'd love to hear it." Captain Kirk growled.

"I would ask the captain of the Tiberius to give us a general listing of all the Starfleet personnel they know of, their postings and any service records they have on hand." Spock said.

"Why?" Kirk asked.

"I cannot tell you now, but I will after I review the data I am given." Spock replied. "Suffice to say, it should prove or disprove my theory which has altered in accepting the possibility that they are from a timeline alternate to that of my counterpart."

Three hours later after Spock had sifted through the data that the captain of the Tiberius-A had provided, Kirk sat in the main briefing room with all of the other department heads.

"After reviewing the information I have been given - limited though it is - I am 95 percent certain that my theory is correct." Spock said.

"What about the other five percent?" Kirk asked.

"I have analyzed the other ship's shielding and weapons capabilities, and if they try anything on the way to Starbase 10 we can deal with it quite easily, and with a minimal loss of life on our part." Spock said.

"What makes you think that we'll tow them to Starbase 10?" Kirk asked.

"Other than the fact that the other ship is indeed a Federation vessel whether or not those aboard are actually Starfleet officers?" Spock replied.

"Good point." Kirk said with a sigh.

"I initially had some difficulty accessing the files handed over as the other ship seems to be using an alternate computing format that was invented by Richard Daystrom rather than the one pioneered by T'Arda of Vulcan that is currently in use by Starfleet, further adding credibility to my theory, as the fact that Starfleet considered using Daystrom's breakthrough in 2243 is relatively unknown." Spock began. "After I gained access to the files - which were the general information anyone of sufficient rank could access should they chose rather than the confidential files kept by a commanding officer - I separated them into three categories. Those whose names don't match the names attached to the same service numbers in our database indicating that they did not join Starfleet, those who either entered different fields or were given different postings, and those whose records of service matched almost perfectly."

"Well?" Dr. McCoy asked.

"The numbers in each category appear to consistently line up with the theory that the ship did indeed come from an alternate timeline." Spock replied.

Captain Kirk sighed.

"Well, it looks like I'll have to give them a tow." he said. "Scotty, could you get everything ready to be underway in an hour?"

"Aye." Scotty said.

With that, the group got up and prepared to leave the conference room.

"Captain, there was one rather interesting item that was sent over that had no bearing on the issue at hand." Spock said "It was a disciplinary report from the Academy with the words 'You're grounded' written on it in handwriting that matches that of George Samuel Kirk Sr. formerly of the USS Kelvin."

**Edited 2-16-13**


	2. Exams and Catholic Romulans

By the time the Enterprise reached Starbase 10 with the Tiberius in tow, a scientific team composed of members from several nearby worlds and other ships that had been in the sector had been gathered in order to study the vessel that had come through the anomaly. When they arrived at the starbase, the crew of the Tiberius was met by what looked like an entire medical convention while the interior of the ship was thoroughly scanned by scientists from just about every field imaginable. Just about everybody who was anybody in the scientific community had turned up for this near-unprecedented even. Had they been given the opportunity, they would have likely gone over every inch of the Narada with as much fervor and enthusiasm as they did the Tiberius.

While the medical team went over the Tiberius' passengers and crew conducting every test they could think of from genetic to testing for STDs, the computer sciences division had hauled out an early model Daystrom and started going over every data disk aboard the ship while simultaneously downloading the entire library computer. While this was happening to his vessel, Captain Teach of the Tiberius sat there watching Cale Sandorsen who was currently under heavy guard unable to believe that the man whose sweeping policy reforms had earned him the moniker of The Father of Federation Justice was actually a Romulan. As the Captain watched Sandorson, he couldn't help but watch George Kirk - a man who was staunchly loyal to Starfleet and the Federation - who was sitting there beside the recently revealed Romulan laughing over the "indignities they were suffering" with Sandorsen as if the fact that he belonged to a race that opposed everything the Federation stood for didn't matter as well. He'd thought he'd known Kirk, but now he was not so sure...

While doing his best to ignore Captain Teach's baleful glances, George Samuel Kirk Sr sat close to his friend Cale. The only reason his friend hadn't been hauled off to some cell or worse had been the fact that the people in this universe apparently revered the George Kirk of this universe and some of that reverence seemed to have carried over to him. When he'd personally vouched for Cale, they'd mostly backed off, placing him under guard rather than dragging him away as they apparently had planned to do before he'd intervened on his friend's behalf. By the way the Starfleet personnel were reacting to his friend, he guessed that there had been another war with the Romulans recently. That was the only reason he could think of for why a man as young as his son's counterpart was was already the Captain of a ship.

From his relatively comfortable if heavily guarded spot, Cale watched his friend closely. He knew that laugh. It was the one George used when if he didn't laugh he would either cry or go nuts. Encountering a universe where one's counterpart was a dead hero who had actually been made a Saint probably wasn't good for one's mental health. He was guessing from the way nobody had heard of him that his counterpart was just dead, as he himself would have been if he hadn't met George. Traveling through time as Captain Teach had initially assumed they had done upon finding George's son legitimately occupying the Captain's chair of the Enterprise would have been much easier to handle than what had really happened.

Realizing that his friend wouldn't be able to take much more of the excessive poking and prodding he was undergoing as it seemed that every doctor there couldn't believe he was actually real, Cale requested the location of the Starbase Chapel. As almost every species had some form of religion, all starbases were equipped with a place where one could practice one's religion in peace, and where religious services could be held as needed. While he knew that George was an agnostic, he also knew that he could get some peace and quiet in the chapel where he wouldn't be hounded by everyone who wanted to get a look at him as humans tended to have a modicum of respect for such places, even the atheists. He wanted to visit the chapel himself for his own reasons as well.

After Cale had received his requested directions and suggested that George should join him in the base chapel, Security Officer Mitch Williams followed the man who claimed to be a George Kirk from another universe and his Romulan companion into the chapel. He blinked in surprise when the Romulan crossed himself upon entering. His brain nearly needed rebooting after the Romulan went to the communications console at the end of the room and perused the list of available "Religious counselors" that were on call for the sector.

Williams stood there stunned when Father Christopher - one of the three priests who were assigned to that region of space- appeared on the screen. He hadn't known what to expect when the Romulan had gone for the list which hadn't included any clergy of any of the Romulan religions, but he hadn't expected that.

Noticing his disquiet, George turned to him and grinned.

"I know how you feel." he said. "I thought he was joking right up until the day of his baptism."

Seemingly oblivious to the conversation taking place behind him, the Romulan continued talking to the priest he had called.

Outside the base chapel and in an entirely different section of the starbase, James T. Kirk watched as the passengers and crew of the Tiberius were checked out. According to the scientists he had talked to, a trip through the anomaly was one way which meant that aside from the fact that the pretty much destroyed Narada had become some other universe's problem when it got sucked through that anomaly created by the so called Red Matter when Spock had crashed the small ship into it, the Tiberius would never be able to return home. There would be no return trip for them, and the Starfleet of their home universe would declare them lost. A call to the old Spock had confirmed that his father had not disappeared aboard the Tiberius in his universe, and while the old Spock hadn't said much about the Tiberius that had vanished without his father aboard, he did speak of a Cale Sandorson who supposedly had been aboard the S.S. Rosenburg when it had been rescued. In Spock's timeline, Sandorson had eventually gone on to serve as a judge in one of the highest courts in the Federation before his death.

Honestly, he wasn't sure how to deal with the situation, and calling the Old Spock hadn't really helped, as the question he most wanted answered was one he didn't dare ask. These people were from one of the infinite number of other universes in the multiverse, and from what he heard, it seemed that his fate was somehow tied to Enterprise in their universe as well. It would seem that his captaincy of the Enterprise was fate or something considering the number of timelines it appeared that it would be likely to happen in as the Jim Kirk who'd been left behind in that universe had been on track to take the ship after Pike as the Jim Kirk of Old Spock's timeline had.

Sighing, he turned to find another activity in order to delay the inevitable. He would have to speak with George Kirk sometime, but that time didn't have to be now.

**Edited 2-17-13**


	3. Dealing With Difficult Situations

Cale felt better after his conversation with the priest, calmer. He was still in a universe that was not his own, and he was still under heavy guard, but now he felt better able to accept the situation. The Church was the same here as it was in his home universe, and therefore would still be a constant in his life as it had been since he'd converted to the peculiar human religion.

He wasn't the only one of Vulcan stock to have converted to the religion. There was - or at least in his home universe there was - a small congregation of Vulcans and not-exactly-Vulcans who attended Mass every Sunday.

The Serenity Prayer which he'd learned from a Starfleet officer who'd learned it from his father who'd learned it from his father going back several generations offered a great deal of wisdom for situations such as this, and reciting it brought him a small measure of peace. Peace he desperately needed at the moment considering how uncertain his future was now, especially since the fact that he wasn't human or even a member of a race that belonged to the Federation had been revealed.

His conversion to the Catholic faith had started - like many things in his life including his moving to Earth - by accident. He'd run into a church to get out of the rain one morning only to discover he'd arrived just in time for morning mass. Not wanting to make a spectacle of himself, he had gone inside and quietly sat down with the small congregation that had attended at that early hour, attempting to follow along enough that he wouldn't particularly stand out. The Homily had caught his attention then his curiosity. After the mass was over, he had gone up to the priest in order to ask questions.

Back when he'd been living in the Romulan Empire, he hadn't been particularly religious. There were times now when he'd thought that was because he'd been waiting to find the right one. After several discussions with the priest and nearly a year in the RCIA, he had been certain that he'd found it.

After he'd finished praying, he'd turned to his friend George who was looking a bit better now that he was out of the public eye. George was as always seemingly amused by the fact that he followed a human religion that had significantly waned in influence over the past few centuries. The guard that followed them inside seemed quite stunned, but so had the few who'd known what he really was when he'd told them of his new-found religion years earlier. Captain April's reaction had been priceless to say the least.

* * *

While George and Cale practically hid out in the base chapel, Spock spoke to Captain Teach who'd pretty much been left to his own devices after his friend and the "Father of Federation Justice" had departed. He had wanted to suspect the Romulan for being behind the Tiberius' arrival in their universe, but the more he spoke with Teach, the less likely that seemed.

"The anomaly that caused your arrival in our universe appeared out of nowhere?" he asked seeking clarification following the captain's testimony.

Apparently, the destruction of the Narada had caused some unforeseen consequences, and the arrival of the Tiberius was one of them. The captain's mentioning of debris surrounding the anomaly that had sucked his ship in seemed to confirm this, as the Narada had been breaking apart when it had been sucked into the black hole that the Red Matter had created when Ambassador Spock's ship had exploded upon colliding with the Narada months earlier.

It was possibly quite fortunate that it had been Captain Teach's universe that the anomaly had opened up to considering the infinite number of possibilities that were out there including the possibility of the existence of a universe where everyone was evil by current moral and ethical standards. Having people from such a universe arrive in their own could have any number of unforeseen consequences.

The worst that they seemed to have to face from the Tiberius' arrival aside from the Romulan who had seemingly contented himself with holing up in Starbase 10's chapel was the emotional turmoil that George Kirk would cause the captain. Having never met the father whose legacy everyone had expected Captain Kirk to live up to, things would be decidedly awkward between his captain and the counterpart of the man who had sacrificed himself in order to save the lives of the crew of the U.S.S. Kelvin which had included his mother who had given birth to him aboard one of the shuttles shortly after evacuation of that ship following the death of Captain Robau.

* * *

Aboard the Enterprise, Captain Kirk fingered the hard copy of the message that his father's counterpart had sent. He had never received a scolding from his father before or anything from his father aside from suggestions on his name and a cut off declaration of love for him and his mother for that matter because the man had died moments after he had been born. He didn't know how he should feel about the message he'd received. On the one hand, it showed that no matter the universe his father cared about him. On the other however, that man who wore his father's face beneath a mop of red hair wasn't _his _father. That man hadn't sacrificed himself in order to save his life and the life of his mother as his father had. That man hadn't had to.

"I'd thought I'd find you here." Dr. McCoy said as he'd invaded his quarters without so much as a by-your-leave, having used the medical override in order to gain access.

"What do you want Bones?" he asked.

"I want you to stop hiding from your feelings." Bones said. "It isn't healthy. Go and talk to the man. The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you'll be able to deal with it."

Sighing, he stashed the missive in his desk drawer and got up. He could have told the doctor to leave him the hell alone, but that would have been as futile as trying to put the sun out with a glass of water. Bones would have simply continued pestered him until he'd complied out of sheer frustration.

After beaming back aboard the starbase, he made his way to the chapel where his father's counterpart was still holed up with his Romulan "friend" uncertain of what to say, and of what he wanted to say. Swallowing down his nervousness, he opened the door and entered.

He hadn't been sure what to expect, but it sure as hell hadn't been to see his father, the Romulan who'd been surgically altered to appear human, and the security guard who'd been assigned to watch them sitting crosslegged on the floor of the chapel having a serious theological discussion. None of them seemed to have noticed his arrival, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

It delayed his conversation with his father's counterpart for one...


End file.
